Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton April 20 1908 August 31 2002 was an American jazz vibraphonist pianist percussionist and bandleader Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker Charles Mingus and Quincy Jones In 1992 he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996 Lionel Hampton was born in 1908 in Louisville Kentucky and was raised by his mother Shortly after he was born he and his mother moved to her hometown of Birmingham Alabama He spent his early childhood in Kenosha Wisconsin before he and his family moved to Chicago Illinois in 1916 As a youth Hampton was a member of the Bud Billiken Club an alternative to the Boy Scouts of America which was offlimits because of racial segregation During the 1920s while still a teenager Hampton took xylophone lessons from Jimmy Bertrand and began to play drums Hampton was raised Catholic and started out playing fife and drum at the Holy Rosary Academy near Chicago Lionel Hampton began his career playing drums for the Chicago Defender Newsboys Band led by Major N Clark Smith while still a teenager in Chicago While he lived in Chicago Hampton saw Louis Armstrong at the Vendome remembering that the entire audience went crazy after his first solo He moved to California in 1927 or 1928 playing drums for the Dixieland BluesBlowers He made his recording debut with The Quality Serenaders led by Paul Howard then left for Culver City and drummed for the Les Hite band at Sebastians Cotton Club One of his trademarks as a drummer was his ability to do stunts with multiple pairs of sticks such as twirling and juggling without missing a beat During this period he began practicing on the vibraphone In 1930 Louis Armstrong came to California and hired the Les Hite band for performances and recordings Armstrong was impressed with Hamptons playing after Hampton reproduced Armstrongs solo on the vibraphone and asked him to play behind him like that during vocal choruses So began his career as a vibraphonist popularizing the use of the instrument in the process Invented ten years earlier the vibraphone is essentially a xylophone with metal bars a sustain pedal and resonators equipped with electricpowered fans that add tremolo While working with the Les Hite band Hampton also occasionally did some performing with Nat Shilkret and his orchestra During the early 1930s he studied music at the University of Southern California In 1934 he led his own orchestra and then appeared in the Bing Crosby film Pennies From Heaven 1936 alongside Louis Armstrong wearing a mask in a scene while playing drums Also in November 1936 the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom When John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton perform Goodman invited him to join his trio which soon became the Benny Goodman Quartet with pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa completing the lineup The Trio and Quartet were among the first racially integrated jazz groups to perform before audiences and were a leading small group of the day Source Article Lionel Hampton from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30